This invention pertains to lidded nursery plant containers in which the plants may be grown, stored, transported and merchandised.
For the sake of convenience and efficiency, it is common present day practice to grow, store, transport and merchandise nursery shrubs and trees in containers of appropriate size and character. Historically, nurseries first placed or grew their plants in metal containers which were discards from the canned food industry. Hence the size identification of plants (1 gallon, 2 gallon, etc.) in terms of the size of the container in which they were contained. With the development of the plastics industry, plastic containers designed especially for use with nursery plants now have become available at reasonable cost.
Small shrubs can be grown in the containers in which they are to be merchandised. On the commercial scale, however, trees must be field grown and then transferred to containers when they are ready for market. They may be transferred either bare root, or after having been balled and burlapped.
After transfer, the bare-rooted plants become re-established in the containers. This greatly increases their viability and provides a year around market.
Transferring bare-rooted trees to containers presents serious problems and creates extra costs for the nurseryman:
After the trees have been transferred to containers, they must be established for one growing season with attendant loss of time in merchandising them.
During establishment of the trees in the container, the root systems must be supported by stakes until the new roots have been established. Presence of the stakes inhibits caliper growth of the trees, damages the tree trunks, and causes irregular trunk growth.
Even when the trees have been established in the containers, they still are difficult to truck-transport since road vibrations loosen the growing medium and dislodge the trees. To minimize this problem, it is common practice to load the trees in the transporting truck in upright position. This limits the pay load correspondingly.
It accordingly is the general purpose of the present invention to provide a lidded nursery plant container for storing, transporting and merchandising nursery plants, particularly trees, which firmly compresses and holds the root systems of the contained plants, holding the trees straight while still allowing the trunk movement required for caliper growth thereby making the containers an integral part of the plant support systems and eliminating the need for staking.
It is a further important object of the present invention to provide a lidded nursery plant container particularly suited for handling and merchandising bare root fruit trees which secures and anchors the root systems in place so that the trees establish themselves efficiently in the containers and may be sold at any time during the calendar year.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention are the provision of a lidded nursery plant container which provides quicker establishment and anchoring of the root system; which permits shipping bare root trees immediately after containerization; which protects the plant root balls from being crushed in transit; which promotes even distribution of irrigation water throughout the root zone; which reduces evaporative moisture loss by as much as 50%; which permits stacking of the plants in the transport vehicle; which permits plant irrigation during storage and transport; which provides weed control in the planting medium; which facilitates handling by the nurseryman, the transport employees, the merchandising personnel and the purchasers; and which enhances the living Christmas tree market.
As fully set forth in the drawings and description which follow, the foregoing and other objects and purposes of the present invention are achieved by the provision of a lidded nursery plant container which, broadly stated, comprises in combination an open-topped container for receiving the root structure of a plant, and a lid dimensioned to fit within the open top of the container. The lid is characterized by the presence of, first, a central opening dimensioned to receive the stem or trunk of the plant and, second, a radial slot of predetermined width communicating the opening with the exterior.
A slide block is mountable slidably in the slot. It slidably engages the margins of the slot when the lid is in its operative position, closing the open top of the container.
Parallel, closely spaced ribs on the upper, inner margin of the container frictionally interengage the lid with the container. A plurality of spaced irrigation openings in the lid permit ventilation and watering of the plant roots as required.